If you have a future architect or designer at home, you've probably started them out with spongy building blocks or something. After that, you might move up to the wooden building blocks, and at some point, Legos will likely get a turn. Maybe even a prefab playhouse like this would do the trick? Modern Cabana, the same company that designed and built the Modern Cottage Idea House for Sunset Magazine, recently announced that they're offering this KIDDO Cabana in kit form for $1,500.

Today, Blu Homes and Michelle Kaufmann announced that Blu Homes has purchased all the assets of mkDesigns, including the rights to several Michelle Kaufmann Designs (MKD) homes, such as the Glidehouse, Breezehouse, mkLotus, and mkSolaire.* With the news, Michelle Kaufmann has joined the advisory board of Blu Homes and will consult the company in applying the MKD designs to Blu Homes’ fold out modular technology. Michelle will also start her new practice, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, where she will focus on custom, net-zero energy homes, sustainable communities, and eco resorts.

Salem, Oregon based Ideabox has been creating some buzz lately with their new home design, the Fortino, which will be revealed at the Seattle Home Show 2, October 22-25, 2009, at Qwest Field. After a little coaxing, Ideabox was kind enough to let us see these renderings and a floor plan in anticipation of the big event. Fortino will include 1,250 square-feet of loft-like living shared between two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Hot on the heels of our prior coverage of the Rainscreen Shed and the International Shed of the Year comes this solar-powered beauty, the Microhouse. According to Naomi Seldin of Simpler Living, the 100 square-foot tiny house is part of the Human = Landscape exhibit going on in City Hall Park in Burlington, Vermont. The Microhouse was built by Alex Carver and Christopher North of Northern Timbers Construction with the design help of landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.

The portable classroom is just about as ubiquitous as the mobile home, so our ears perked when Toby Long, principal of Clever Homes and Toby Long Design, mentioned these first-generation, prefab, green portable classrooms. Working with the Chartwell School in Seaside, California — itself the first LEED Platinum campus in the country — Toby Long Design designed, fabricated, and installed two relocatable classroom structures on the Chartwell campus. Almost incredibly, the on-site work only took about four weeks.

All the prefab enthusiasts need to make sure to check out this Hive Modular home in St. Paul's historic Capitol Heights neighborhood. The home and its owner, David Schmit, were profiled in Midwest Home, and the article provides an interesting glimpse into getting a prefab built. Schmit bought the lot, sold his home, worked with Hive Modular on the design, worked with the local architectural planning board to get approvals, and finally worked with the city of St. Paul to get approvals. It took some time and patience, too.